RCYC KAL begins in one week! Parties and more…

Can you believe it? One week until the cast on for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Shawlette KAL. The official cast on date is Friday January 17; the first clue will be released that day. If you’re local to Portland, I’d love to knit with you! I’m having a cast on party at Twisted from 5 to 8 p.m. We’ll have refreshments and prizes; drop by any time and knit a bit with us. I’m thrilled to be the designer of this mystery shawlette!

I’m also knitting with the KAL/CAL group at the Knitting Bee on Sunday January 26, from 1-3 p.m., and bringing a little trunk show there, too.

And Lorajean (Knitted Wit) and I are planning a trip to For Yarn’s Sake on Friday, January 31 during their KAL time, 4:30 to 6 p.m. I love having these opportunities to knit with you; knitters are the nicest people.

I’m ready to cast on! Well, I will be, once I get my yarn from Knitted Wit next week. This is what happens when you hang out with a dyer.

I changed my colors, because I finally realized that I’ll get the sample back next year. My new yarn colors: clematis and tugboat.

This is not the actual yarn, just the color. The yarn will be Knitted Wit Single Fingering, rather than this plied sample. Lorajean gave me yarn for the KAL, but now she’s talked me into the blues. I asked her if she wanted the silver lining and madge back, and she said that I should give it away on the blog! This is your chance to win these two skeins of gorgeous yarn. Leave a comment by midnight January 13 to enter to win. (Fine print: Winner must be a USA resident, so I can mail it out quickly in case s/he needs it for the KAL.) Thank you, LJ!

I hope you’ll be knitting along with me. And when we’re finished with the KAL, I hope to see you on the crawl with your beautiful shawlette! I’m also hoping that we can get a group picture at the Yarn Ball on February 26. That will be a rainbow of awesome! Rose City Yarn Crawl is also giving away prizes in conjunction with the KAL and CAL; more info on that later. The actual yarn crawl dates are February 27 through March 1, and includes 18 Portland-area yarn shops.

Here’s the scoop on the KAL: The pattern is available through Ravelry here for $6. You’ll receive a pre-MKAL information sheet telling you about yarn and dates. Every week beginning January 17 the pattern will be updated with the next clue so you can download it.

The RCYC group on Ravelry is here: Pop on over and see what colors people are choosing in the pre-MKAL thread!

Are you ready to cast on? Do you want to win yarn? Leave a comment, in either case!

Hello! I’m not sure how this KAL works–do we need to get our yarn ahead of time? If so, what kind of yarn and how much? I couldn’t find this on the Ravelry site. Do we need to have our yarn with us if we go to Twisted Friday night, January 17? Thanks! Dawn

Hi, Dawn! All good questions. Yes, you can get your yarn ahead of time; you’ll need two 100g skeins of fingering weight yarn in contrasting colors. The pattern is available through Ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/2014-rcyc-mystery-knit-along for $6. You’ll receive a pre-MKAL information sheet telling you about yarn and dates. Every week beginning January 17 the pattern will be updated with the next clue so you can download it.

The RCYC group on Ravelry is here: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/rose-city-yarn-crawl Pop on over and see what colors people are choosing in the pre-MKAL thread! If you’re coming to the cast on party, you can also purchase yarn there, and they will wind it for you. Hope to see you there!

KALs are fun! It’s nice to have the company of others working on the same project; we share ideas, questions, pictures. I think this one will be especially fun because a lot of us will see each other in person during the yarn crawl, rather than solely on the interwebs. I hope you can join us!

You can see the original sample, somewhere on the crawl! I’ll find out where it’s being shown, and post it up. The original colors are fabulous together. It was my second try; the first pink was too wimpy against the silver lining!

I wish I could join you at Twisted. Maybe I can make it into town to knit at the Knitting Bee since the next day is my Portland daughter’s birthday. I wouldn’t tell her I was coming for knitting, though. ;o)

Oh my gosh, I would be totally overwhelmed to be considered for the donation of these two skeins. I don’t have a local yarn store nearby and my and I love these color combinations. Thanks for offering these as a giveaway!
Paula C.
Bryan, TX

I would love to win the yarn! I’m already participating in the MKAL and would love to make another one for my mom who is accompanying me to the Yarn Crawl! She doesn’t knit or crochet yet but always supports me with my knitting and I would love for her to feel more involved that weekend and giving her a shawl really make her happy!

beautiful yarn, and of course I’d love to win. 🙂 I’ve never tried Lorajean’s yarns…you never know, they could become my 2014 obsession! (and I haven’t bought ANY yarn for over six months, so … bring.it.on.)

I concur–Knitted Wit is a great yarn and it’s beauty lent perfectly to this KAL. And can you believe that I am the only one of my colleagues who has not acquired yarn for this KAL (and they’re all using Knitted Wit single fingering!). It would be thrilling to join the KAL and look equally fashionable at the Yarn Ball next month!

I’m so looking forward to the KAL — it’s my first mystery KAL and my second KAL ever. Of course I’m hoping to do the CAL as well –> funny thing is 3 out of 4 skeins for them are Knitted Wit Shine (I might have a mild addiction), with the one loner being Blue Moon Seduction.